Onam Festival Part-2-Pathala Loka

As per the Puranas, when Vishnu, in the form of a young scholar Vamana, humbled Asura king Maha Bali, Maha Bali was banished to Pathala Loka. When the Devaovercame the Asurain battles, the Asurawere forced to migrate to thePathalaLoka,the netherworldor the world below.

Where is this Pathala Loka?

People have conjured up images of Pathala Lokaas being vertically downwards inside the earth.

In the picture it is shown as Asuragoing down toPathala Loka –an incorrect understanding

The Puraniclegends describe how the world isdivided into different habitable regions. They list 14 regions, with 7 regions being the “nether worlds”, the Pathala Loka.The Puranictexts also give the notion of the Pathala Lokaas being beyondthe seas.

The words like location and locomotion are etymologically similar to the word, “Loka”.

There are other technical texts that mention the location of Asuraand their adversaries, the Sura. A sloka in Surya Siddhantha throws some light on the exact location of the Pathala.The relevant sloka is,

Surasuranam anyonyam diva – ratra viparyayaha

For Suraand Asura, days and nights are interchangeable

According to this sloka,Suraand Asurawould have lived on opposite sides of the earth as only then can their days and nights be interchangeable. The region of the earth diametrically opposite to the Indian subcontinent is the central parts of South America which was the Pathala Loka of the Asura.

If we want a modern analogy, we have the British calling Australia as Down Under. That does not mean that Australia is in the underground areas of England. What the English really mean by the phrase “Down Under”, is that, for England, high in the northern hemisphere, Australia is on the other side of the earth, down in the south

Similarly, there is another popular term in the US, called the China Syndrome. People often joke that, in case there were to be a nuclear mishap in America, then the nuclear explosion would burrow a hole beneath America, continue to burrow through the earth and come out on the other side of the earth, in China.

These phrases, Australia Down Under and China Syndrome are examples of usage by people on one side of the globe to bring out the concept that, there is another side, opposite to them on the earth, which is also inhabited by people.

It is in this similar vein of expression that the ancient Indians had used the term Pathala Loka, as the area on the other side of the spherical earth. It is not to be erroneously understood as an underground cavern or kingdom.

To have had this knowledge, the ancient Indians must have known that the earth was not flat but spherical in nature.

Does this mean that Pathala Loka is for real and the story of Maha Bali, real?

ALSO IN THE SAME SERIES

Comments

One Response to “Onam Festival Part-2-Pathala Loka”

Mahesh

A very interesting blog. The Spiritual analysis of the three steps was wonderful.
A small doubt

The region of the earth diametrically opposite to the Indian subcontinent is the central parts of South America which was the Pathala Loka of the Asura. It’s all part of earth. So actually where or what’s the third step -Pathala Loka described in the story if its not some place below the earth.

-If Pathala loka is as described above in your blog, Vamana had covered it in the first step, then how can you say that the area described by you is Pathala Loka.